In a plan announced Thursday (but leaked to the media Wednesday night), she suggests creating a new Education Policy Council with representatives from the union, school boards and government “to advise government on public education policy priorities, including allocation of the PEIF.”

The BCTF concluded that the government was trying again to remove class size and composition from the bargaining table once again and said that would not fly. Education Minister Don McRae issued a news release late Thursday afternoon denying that.

The union lost the right to bargain class size and composition in 2002 when Clark was education minister. That move was highly controversial and set the stage for a decade of conflict between the Liberal government and the union. The BCTF went to court and won, which resulted in the Liberals stating last spring in Bill 22 that teachers would once again have the right to bargain class size and comp, starting in 2013. Composition refers to the number of special-needs students in the classroom.

Clark is also proposing indexing teacher compensation to an average of other major public sector increases. This is also not likely to win BCTF support.

“Taken together, these elements represent a bold step in government’s commitment to a long-term settlement,” a government document says. “The first 3 elements – dedicated funding, the Education Policy Council, and compensation indexing – are contingent on achieving a 10-year labour agreement.”

A news conference with Clark and Education Minister Don McRae is set for 9:30 a.m. in Surrey.

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